[Alex Portman]

China, Japan and Taiwan have long had disagreements over the territorial affiliation of the Senkaku archipelago (Diaoyudao in Chinese) in the East China Sea, an area of ​​which, as it is known, is rich in natural resources. In fact, control over these eight islands with a total area of ​​7 square kilometers is carry out by Japan, and the other two countries claim them.

But the conflict between China and Japan is more apparent. Thus, in recent years, cases of the appearance of Chinese ships patrolling the waters of the East China Sea in the area of ​​disputed islands have become more frequent in the waters of the archipelago.

Japan takes these actions negatively, and official Tokyo even decided to create a new police unit that will patrol the islands with weapons and helicopters.

Thus, according to experts, this conflict could become from verbal conflict to armed one, and this outcome would be completely undesirable, taking into account the already difficult situation in the region.

[Patrickov]

China needs such disputes to maintain some kind of national unity. In fact, some previous generation Hong Kong democracy fighters also go for this.

Moreover, considering the islands' strategic location (it directly affects the economic zones AFAIK), it's natural that China will want to use it to establish some kind of marine Lebensraum -- whether it deserves that is another matter.